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From: Steady Eddie
Date: 1/18/2002
Time: 2:59:09 AM
Remote Name: 64.240.103.78
I kinda got a kick out of that one. :-) I never heard that before.
The word "Chinook", as it is spelled now, is (I think), a white man's invention. I have seen it spelled many different ways. The name is applied rather loosely to all of the Indian groups or bands that lived along the Columbia that, and here's the key, spoke the same language. When a group of people are studied, they are studied based upon the common language that they speak--and classified or grouped that way.
It seems odd that the creators of the site could say that Chinook--"in Native American"-- means snow-eater. There are many Native American languages, in which one does Chinook mean "snow-eater"? This is beside the fact that it hardly snows enough at the mouth of the Columbia River to "eat" any of it.
As for the warm winds that blow, called "Chinook Winds", I'd bet that term was fabricated at a later date, although it could be based upon Indian legend. Dunno.
Steady Eddie